Knitting-machine.



Patented May 26, 1903.

PATENT OEEICE.

BERNARD T. STEBER, OF UTICA, NEW YORK.

KNITTING- MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 729,005, dated May 26,1903.

'Application iiled February 14, 1901. Serial No. 47,335. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, BERNARD T. STEBER, acitizen of the United States,residing at Utica, in the county of Oneida and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Knitting-Machines; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such aswill enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in knitting-machines, and hasparticular relation to the kind of cams which are employed in raisingand depressing the needles of the machine.

It consists in certain novel constructions, combinations, andarrangements of parts, which will be hereinafter fully described andclaimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,Figure l is a side elevation of a cam as arranged upon vthe innersurface of a cam-cylinder, the said cylinder being straightened out forthe sakeof better illustration. Fig. 2 is a similar View, but showingsome of the movable cams in a different position. Fig. 3 is a detailview showing the foot of a sock or stocking. Fig. 4 is a detailsectional view through the cam and cam-cylinder, taken on the line a a.,Fig. l, and showing long and short heeled needles in position withrespect to the same.

My improved knitting-machine is designed to enable one with a machine ofordinary construction to produce a strong and fancy knitted heel or toein a stocking, sock, or the like. The kind of stitch which I prefer touse is produced by allowing only a portion of the needles to rise highenough to release their latches from their loops and take yarn for onecourse of stitches, as in knitting a heel, while the cam-ring revolvesin one direction and to allow all of the needles to take yarn and knitfor the course of stitches immediately following, the cam-ring havingbeen reversed and moved in the opposite direction to form the saidlatter course of stitches. I employ, however, needles having long andshort heels and use guides or cams particularly adapted for actuatingthe same.,

For the purposes of this invention I arrange the needles around theneedle-cylinder of the fabric, I so arrangemy cams that they will makeal1 of the needles knit whilethe camringis revolving in one direction;but when it revolves in the opposite direction the longheeled needlesonly will be raised, the shortheeled needles being lowered.

In developing this invention in a practical 'manner I arrange sectionalcams, as 1 and 2, upon the inner face of a cam-cylinder of an ordinaryknitting-machine. The cam is also provided with adjustable movingsections, as 4 and 5, which are adapted to be raised or lowered forvarying the needle-path 6. The construction of the cam-section 2 formsan important feature of the invention, the main body portion of the saidcam being made about one-half the thickness of the upper cam-section 1and the movable cam-sections 4 and 5. Along one edge of the cam 2 isarranged a thickened portion 3, which is made the same thickness as thecam-section l and the movable section 4. This construction is peculiarlyadapted for use in connection with long and short heeled needles, suchas are illustrated in Fig. 4 at and 8. It will be seen that the thinportion of the cam-section 2 will always be reached and vengaged by theheels of the long needles 7, no matter in which direction the cam istraveling. The said thin portion of the cani-section 2, however, wouldnot be reached by the heels of the short needles 8. The thickenedportion 3 of the camsection 2 will project far enough from the surfaceof the cam-cylinders to reach the heels of all the needles, whether longor short. It will thus be seen that when the cam-section 2 moves withthe cam-cylinder in one direction-say in the direction indicated by thearrow in Fig. 2-all of the needles will be engaged by the thickenedA.section 3 and be caused to rise and take yarn for the knittingoperation. When, however, the cam is moved in the opposite direction, asindicated by the arrow in Fig. l, the long-heeled needles only will beraised by the thin portion of the cam 2, the short-heeled needlesremaining in their lowered position and passing beneath the lower end ofthe thickenedpart 3. The movable sections 4 and 5 are changed in theirpositions in these two operations, so as to alter the course of theneedle-paths 6. When the cylinder is traveling from right to left., asindicated by the arrow in Fig. 1, the cam 4 will be raised, so as tocause the needles to pass beneath it, while the cam 5 will be lowered,so that the needles will pass over it. When the cylinder is moved in theopposite direction, as indicated bythe arrow in Fig. 2, the cam-section4 is lowered, while the section 5 is raised. These 'cams 4 and 5 may beraised or lowered by any suitable means. (Not shown.)

In knitting a heel or toe of a sock or stocking when the positionindicated by the dotted line b 'b is reached I raise about one-half ofthe needles up out of action and then continue the operation of themachine, turningr the cam-ring around once in one direction and ihenreversing it and turning it completely around once in the otherdirection, at each turn raising one of the active needles out of actionuntil the required number have been raised for completing the knittingof the rst section of the heel or roe-say to the line indicated from bto c in Fig. 3. essary to proceed with the knitting of theother'triangular section of the heel-namely,

Y that indicated by the letters b c d. This is accomplished bycontinuing the back-andforth movement of the cam-cylinder and loweringthe needles one at a time at each movement of the cam-ring until all ofthem but the first half, which were originally raised, have been loweredinto action. This mode of knitting the heel of astocking is commonlyused in the operation of knitting-machines and isvwell known to the art.To produce the desired change in the stitch in forming thesections ofthe heel, however, the present invention affords a simple and novelmeans by raising all of the needles in one course of stitches and everyother needle in the next course of stitches, and so on alternately Iamenabled to produce whatis known as a lock or fancy stitch, which makes astrong fabric of the heel portion.

In knitting the second section of the heel, however, it is necessarytoguard against the loss of connecting-stitches where the twoheel-sections are joined together. This loss would occur if the needleswhich happened to end the vcourse of each stroke were not caused to takeyarn. There of course will be no trouble with the long-heeled needles;but when the short-heeled needles happen to come in play at theturning-point between each stroke of the cam they would fail to receiveyarn unless suitable means were em- .ployed to accomplish this result,and holes would be left in the fabricat intervals along the line b c,where the two triangular sections of the heels are'united. I preventsuch a diiculty in a simple manner-namely, by the: use of an auxiliaryneedle-path, as 9, formed inthe cam-section l. This needlepath 9 shouldbe made of sufficient ydepth to accommodate the short-heeled needles andmay, if desired, be made of sufficient depth to accommodate thelong-heeled needles as well, although this is not necessary, since thelong-heeled needles will be carried into the needle-path 6 by means ofthe beveled faces l0 and l1 at the ends of the cam-section l. With theconstruction just described it will be seen that by depressing theshort-heeled needles as they are brought back into action one by one inthe knitting of the second section of the heel sufficiently to bringtheir heels opposite the flaring mouth of the auxiliary path 9, asindicated at 12, the said shortheeled needles will be raised asufficient height to take yarn and proceed with the knitting operationin the usual manner. lt is only necessary to employ such an auxiliaryneedle-path at the end of the cam-section l which is opposite the thinportion of the camsection 2, since needles which enter the path 6 at theopposite end of the cam will all be raised to take yarn by the thickenedpart 3.

I form the cam-section l with downwardlyfacing beveled end surfaces, asat l0 and l1, for returning all the depressed needles to the cam-path 6.I also preferably form the said ends of the cam-section l withupwardlyfacing beveled end surfaces 13 13, so that if any of the raisedneedles become accidentally lowered by the jarring or shaking of themachine they will be lifted again above the cam. It will be evident thatwith a cam of this character all of the needles may be made to performthe knitting operation when the cam is traveling in one direction andthat only every other needle will perform the knitting operation whenthe cam is moving in the reverse direction. Of course the needlecylindermight be turned with respect to a cam of this construction which washeld stationary and the same result be obtained without departing in theleast from the spirit of the invention. The fancy stitch thus producedis what is called a lock-stitch.7

It will be noted that by the use of my improved cam mechanism I canproduce a beautiful, strong, and durable heel without using any extrastrands of yarn. mechanism supplied with the channel or needle-path 9and `by arranging the depressors which are to lower the needles duringthe process of knitting a heel or toe so they will not depress them anylower than as indicated at 12 in the drawings each and every depressedneedle will enter the needle-path 9 at its beveled entrance and will becaused to knit. All of the needles which are depressed on the right-handside will be guided downwardly by the inclined surface 11, thestitch-cam 4 being down at that time, so as to allow the depressedneedles to strike the cam-surface 3. Thus all the needles will rise totake yarn and knit. Whether the needles are depressed by hand or byautomatic means before each movement of the cam-cylinder in knitting aheel or toe they will always be in position to By using this- IIO takeyarn when the machine is reversed again, provided they are not depressedlower in relation to the needle-path 9 than indicated at l2 in thedrawings. It will be noted that by this simple device, requiring noeXtra adjustment by the operator of the machine, I am enabled to knit aperfect lock-stitch heel, either in a stocking havinga plain leg or footor a leg or foot of fancy stitches, and that the two sections of thefabric comprising the heel or toe will be joined together at everystitch.

Instead of using needles havinglong orshort heels I may of course employneedle-jacks having long and short heels, all of which is Within thespirit of the invention. This mechanism can also be applied to flatmachines as well as to cylinder machines and will opcrate equally asWell with one as with the other and that needles having either latchesor beards may be used. A mechanism of this sort can be used on thesimplest hand-machine as well as on the most complicated automaticdevice, as there are no parts requiring additional adjustment in orderto make a machine equipped with this mechanism perform its functions.

lt will be noted that the thickened portion 3 is permanently locatedalong the edge or side of cam 2, toward which the machine revolves inregularly knitting the foot portion of a stocking, and also that I use acam-path, as 6, whose bottom or rear wall is unbroken by any crack oropening, the entire bottom of the cam-path being one continuousuninterrupted smooth surface, whereby is obviated all danger of theheels of needles being caught, as often occurs where a movable piece isfitted in the bottom of the cam-path.

What I claim is-'- 1. In a machine for knitting the heel or toe ofstockings, the combination with a cam-support, of asectional cam made upof thick and thin sections, the thin section having a thickenedneedle-engaging portion on one edge, movable thick cam-sections adaptedto vary the needle-path, and an auxiliary cam-path for causing all theneedles as they are brought into action forknitting the second sectionof said heel or toe to take yarn in readiness for knit-ting,substantially as set forth.

2. In a knitting-machine for producing triangular sections of fabricadapted to be joined together to form the heel or toe of stockings, thecombination of a fixed cam-section of one thickness, a second fixedcam-section of another thickness, movable cam-sections adapted tooperate in conjunction therewith, 4the said fixed cam-section firstmentioned having an auxiliary path formed therein, a thickened portionformed along one edge of the thin cam-section, the structure being suchthat when employing needles having long and short heels all the needlesmay be caused to knit in one direction and only every other needle becaused to knit in the other direction, whereby a fabric with a fancy orlock stitch may be produced, substantially as set forth.

3. In a machine for knitting the heel or toe of stockings thecombination with needles having long heels and needles having shortheels, of means for guiding the said needles in their action comprisinga cam having thickened and thin portions, means for guiding some of theshort-heeled needles used in knitting the narrowed part of the heel ortoe to the widened part of the same into operative action, and meansforguiding the short-heeled needles otherwise employed out of actionWhile the cam of the knitting-.machine is moving in one direction,substantially as set forth.

4. In a knitting-machine for knitting the heels or toes of stockings,the combination with knitting-needles having heels of dierent lengths,of a cam having thick and thin portions for raising some of the needlesinto activity while others are not raised but remain inactive, whenparts of the triangular sections for forming said heels or toes arebeing knitted, and an auxiliary cam-path for returning needles toaction, the structure being such that all the needles will be returnedto action when knitting the remainder of the said triangular sectionsand when joining the two sections at their edges, substantially asdescribed.

In `testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

BERNARD T. STEBER.

Witnesses:

FRANK ST1-nenn, TREvoR D. JONES.

